The home of Dutch soccer powerhouse Ajax, the Johan Cruijff Arena, has now become a powerhouse in its own right. The venue is now the site of Europe’s largest commercial energy storage system based on electric vehicle batteries.
The arena hosts a three-megawatt storage system, the equivalent of 148 new or secondhand Nissan LEAF batteries. There are also 4,200 solar panels installed at the Johan Cruijff Arena, and much of the energy they collect can be stored as back-up power or supplementary power, making the stadium as sustainable as possible.
The World Economic Forum notes that together the batteries can now store enough energy to charge 500,000 iPhones or supply 7,000 households in Amsterdam for one hour.